Why Is Channing Tatum's Gambit Budget So Insanely High?

2 months ago

It looks like Gambit is going to be a potentially very expensive movie. Despite some uncertainty, now that Disney is officially purchasing most of 21st Century Fox, it looks like Channing Tatum’s long-gestating X-Men spin-off is still going into production this March and won’t be tabled as a result of the Disney merger. One of the last superhero movies being made before Fox folds into the Mouse House is possibly going to be one of the more expensive ones the studio has made, if some newly revealed budget details are to be believed.

According to a new report, it looks like Gambit may cost $155 million to make. The shoot is said to last for 10 weeks in New Orleans and will start this March. $155 million is incredibly expensive, especially for a character that hasn’t yet proved to have appeal for wider audiences. Though, Gambit has been a fan-favorite character to X-Men fans for quite some time. And, not for nothing, but Channing Tatum does have a reasonable amount of star power. Still, as we’ve seen in recent years, stars can’t sell movies like they used to. And with a budget like that, Gambit would have to make a ton of money to justify that kind of production cost.

Interestingly enough, part of the problem in getting Gambit off the ground originally had to do with the high production budget. At the time, Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow) was attached to direct. The movie seemed to be close to production, but then Deadpool happened. Deadpool had a budget of around $57 million and wound up being one of the highest-grossing movies of 2016. That made Fox rethink their strategy and that strategy changed even further with the success of Logan earlier this year. Even Channing Tatum has said those movies allowed Gambit to do things they couldn’t do previously, but it also seemed like maybe the budget would come down as a result. Maybe not.

Another thing to consider is that Gore Verbinski has been tapped to direct. The man directed three Pirates of the Caribbean movies and The Lone Ranger. Even his smaller movies, like A Cure for Wellness, are big for what they are. Point being, he has very expensive tastes as a director and makes things on a pretty big scale. So, given that he was brought on board, it indicates Gambit could still be an expensive, massive movie. No plot details have officially been revealed, but we’ve heard it could be a heist movie, ala Ocean’s Eleven, but with X-Men in it.

Gambit also stars Lizzy Caplan as the female lead and is set for release on February 14, 2019. And according to this new report from Omega Underground, Fox, and by that time Disney, will need it to be a big hit at the box office. No pressure, Channing Tatum. We’ll be sure to keep you up to date as more details on the project are made available.